Fantastic tales in children’s literature from Denmark

Playing with traditions

BY ANNA KARLSKOV SKYGGEBJERG

Superficially the many fantastic tales published today may seem to be a repercussion of the huge success of the Harry Potter books. But the publication of fantastic tales in Danish is not just a matter of epigonism, and the Anglo-Saxon tradition is just one of many sources of inspiration. Danish writers are inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Strange Child (1817) and by the works of Selma Lagerlöf, Astrid Lindgren and Ole Lund Kirkegaard. In order to stress the Germanic-Nordic history of this genre, I have used the term fantastic tale rather than fantasy. But of course English classics such as Alice in Wonderland (1865), Peter Pan (1911) and C.S. Lewis’ books about Narnia also play a significant part in contemporary writers’ playing with traditions.
Fantastic tales are characterized by a combination of reality and magic. Something familiar and ordinary is confronted with something supernatural, and this confrontation usually triggers off surprise, doubt or fear in the protagonists. A reaction which initiates speculation as well as action and in the end can bring about a change in the characters’ and possibly also in the readers’ perception of reality.

Reality and magic in various shapes
The confrontation between reality and magic can take place in numerous ways. The protagonist of the story may get access to another world characterized by living conditions and standards unfamiliar to the protagonist and the readers. This dual world structure can be seen in Kenneth Bøgh Andersen’s trilogy with the collective title The Battle of Caïssa (2000), where the protagonist Frode rises from his sickbed and steps into a world inhabited by giants, unicorns, and kings of light and darkness. Frode gets well as he enters the alternative world, and is charged with the task of fighting against evil. The sharp contrasts and the fight against evil are some of the regular elements of this genre.
Another way of structuring a fantastic tale is providing the protagonist with supernatural powers or letting him get in contact with a strange creature who enters the ordinary world from some undefined place. In Cecilie Eken’s Silver Flower (2002) the protagonist Jonas is a perfectly ordinary boy who, in a time of crisis, is contacted by a strange child. The microscopic and strange girl named Silver Flower makes Jonas hear the flowers talk, and through her special sensitivity she is able to release the oppressed boy.
A third way of structuring a fantastic tale is through the construction of a mythical world with no connection to the real world. The confrontation between reality and magic must then take place in the protagonist. In Lene Kaaberbøl’s series The Shamer’s Daughter, The Shamer Sign and The Snake’s Gift (2000-2002) the protagonist Dina can look into the souls of other people and make them feel ashamed, and this is a dangerous gift to have in the medieval feudal society that she lives in. But even though Dina has supernatural powers and even though she lives in a world where she must fight dragons, she is also just a girl who struggles with ordinary, present-day problems; even if these problems are slightly exaggerated. Dina’s parents do not live together and the girl misses a father. She searches for her identity and has doubts about her future possibilities, and she finds it difficult coming to terms with the special gift that she has been given. Hence she is a young girl with ambivalent feelings, and she sometimes does stupid things that a fairy tale hero would never do.

From problem realism to fantastic tale
Even though I stress the difference between fairy tale heroes and the multifaceted characters of the fantastic tale, the two genres also have a great deal in common. The subject matter of fantastic tales for children is inspired by folktales and H.C. Andersen’s art fairy tales. The fantastic tale and the fairy tale have triggered off many discussions about children, reading and imagination. Since the end of the 19th century it has been debated whether the best thing for children is to read about a recognizable reality or to be spellbound by magical universes.
When looking at children’s literature from a historical perspective, a variation of so-called fantastic and realistic settings has characterized the last two centuries. In the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s the aim for many writers was to educate children to become socially and politically engaged through children’s literature, and therefore the problem-oriented and realistic children’s book was very popular. But during the 1980s there was a shift towards the fantastic. (Once again) it became acceptable to write and read about dragons, devils, and dramatic journeys through strange landscapes. Some of the more groundbreaking works from this period are Knud Holten’s The Mystery of the Mirror Desert (1982) from the very well-written Alex’s Adventures (1982-1999), and Bjarne Reuter’s Shamran – He Who Comes (1985) which as a fantastic tale is comparable to The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (1937) and The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren (1973). During the 1980s and 1990s the number of fantastic tales in Danish has increased significantly, and the tendency towards challenging the genre and experimenting with conventions has been strengthened.

Experiments and the joy of story-telling
Today the fantastic tale is a genre in which the predecessors are referred to, quoted from and joked about. Some works become metatexts which discuss the composition of the narrative while an action-packed story is being told. This can be seen in Louis Jensen’s The Terrible Hand (2001) in which the protagonist Arthur meets an author who tells him a story which is similar to Arthur’s own. This makes Arthur doubt his own existence, and the relation between reality and narrative is at issue. The book is a grotesque story about a monstrous and anthropomorphic hand which has devoured Arthur’s mother. The boy’s search for the hand and his mother takes him many places, and on his way he visits the towns Hoffmann and Grimm, which is an explicit reference to the classics of the genre. Arthur cannot save his mother, but he manages to maintain her love by holding on to her heart. Arthur is forced to take responsibility for his own destiny, and he must choose between the numerous identities and stories offered by a modern and complex society.
Today the fantastic tale also plays a significant role in Bent Haller’s work. The author has shifted from the problem-oriented realism of the 1970s towards the fantastic, mythological and metafictitious of the 1990s. Haller’s most recent children’s book Me and the Devil. A Tale of a Fairytale (2002) is a pastiche of various fairy tales by H.C. Andersen, primarily The Travelling Companion and The Shadow. As the title indicates, this is a metanarrative which reflects on fairy tales and fantastic tales as genres. But also the significance of reading and imagination is discussed as Benne, the protagonist and narrator of the story, reads a fairy tale and is affected by it. In the end the story breaks with the fairy tale genre when Benne refuses to marry the princess because he doesn’t love her. Instead he starts thinking about his own identity.
All of the examples above show that contemporary Danish fantastic tales for children are existential stories which deal with abstract topics in a concrete way. The stories relate to the problems and possibilities of creating an identity of one’s own; and concern good versus evil, the nature of reality and the narrative’s power of fascination.

Anna Karlskov Skyggebjerg is a PhD student

Translated by Helle Sandmann